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Day: 9 March 2017

Feature: Women of Science campaign

The Women of Science campaign, launched last December by PhD researcher in Materials Science and Widening Participation Fellow, Rhys Archer, features 40 ‘relatable’ female scientists from across Europe.

Inspired by online sensation ‘Humans of New York’, Archer came up with the idea after winning an online public engagement competition, ‘I’m an Engineer Get Me Out of Here’, in 2015.

From here, she has used the money to market her campaign, bringing out a website, social media channels, and leaflets about women in STEM that will be distributed in schools across Manchester.

Asked what inspired her to start the campaign, Archer says that she has also been heavily involved in public engagement and schools outreach since she came to the University of Manchester in 2009.

“I think there is a really good culture at the university that promotes social responsibility and working within the community, and so really I think that I have been largely inspired by my time here to continue to work with schools and the public and try to use my skills and expertise to help others.”

She says that she originally only had the intention to create leaflets for school children but “it was really through talking to the young people that I decided to make it a more interactive, online campaign as well as the physical leaflets.”

The campaign’s online presence and visualisation of subject’s stories seems to be popular, with Archer remarking that “the combination of a quote and a photograph on Twitter have been an incredibly effective way of telling the stories of people in a relatable way.

“For me that’s how we should be communicating role models to those who will benefiting from them — not sharing their job profiles but instead sharing who they are as people.”

“A really nice impact that we weren’t expecting so much was just how many female scientists and engineers have engaged with the campaign, and how important that has been for those women – to hear these real stories about other women in STEM”, says Archer on the overwhelming support she has received since the campaign launched.

The ‘relatability’ of these stories is a huge reason for their popularity. Archer explains that being a woman in science isn’t just about the job. “Sometimes [the story] can be relating to struggle — feelings towards PhD’s that perhaps aren’t always said, or struggles with mental health that can be invisible and hard to talk about”, she says.

“It has also been great to see how supportive that community have been, congratulating the women when they speak of their achievements and ambitions.”

But Archer is adamant that the campaign isn’t just to inspire female scientists, but to showcase the responsibilities scientists have to encourage women to enter the field.

“Both [female and male scientists] are crucial in being supportive and encouraging mentors for young women interested in STEM subjects. On an individual scale, I think it is about being role models for others.”

And she makes clear “that [this] isn’t about being perfect” and that for her, “it’s about being honest and open – just having a chat, sometimes that can be all it can takes to help someone feel like they belong, or that they are not alone in what they want to achieve.”

Greater authorities should also “question the gender gap — challenge conference leaders if there is an unequal amount of female speakers, challenge universities on what they are doing to support and encourage Women in STEM, challenge policies that have a disproportionate affect on female workers,” she explains.

Whilst the original project is still underway, Archer already has plans for the future. She says: “I am also planning a few events in the future to bring the campaign more into the public view, in the first instances based in Manchester but perhaps in the future even further afield.”

“We also have a few collaborations coming up that I am excited about”, which includes Prof Danielle George’s story featured in the campaign on International Women’s Day itself. Archer remains tight-lipped on revealing any more exclusive projects, explaining that details with be revealed in their newsletter in the near-future.

On her favourite story so far, Archer says that “although all that is seen through the campaign is 4 quotes and images, I feel that privileged that I get to see so much more about these women” and that the time she spends with each woman in valued. For that reason, “no story is above another in my opinion.”

So what does International Women’s Day mean to Archer? She explains: “It’s a day to celebrate the work and lives of women around us — that could be the accomplishments of those at the IWD Manchester awards”, at which Archer has been nominated for this year’s Outstanding Woman award, “the achievements of our mums, sisters, daughters, friends — and also remembering the work of those women who fought for our rights, who fought for the chances we have now to accomplish those things.

“It is also a day to look forward to the future, and the work that still needs to be done, and looking at how each of us, men and women, can help support women and girls both in the UK and around the world.”

Review: Breathing Space

Breathing Space is a play completely put together by students at the University of Manchester, all of whom have evidently worked incredibly hard to produce this piece of theatre. It is a somewhat thrilling play, centred on six individuals undertaking a mission into outer space. When technical problems stop them in their tracks, the tension rises and the drama begins.

The 3 Minute Theatre was an ideal location: this small venue allowed the audience not only to further connect to the anarchy unfolding on stage but, in some sense, empathise with the characters trapped aboard this ship with no way of escaping. The audience becomes invested within the play and the helpless situations of those trapped in outer space, with the situation’s reality being made very clear by events like the tragic suicide of Maria — played by the talented Ele Robinson. Glimmers of hope for the crew throughout kept me longing for a way for them to escape, remaining hopeful in the very same way that they were, with clever switches between situations involving an imaginative use of light and sound, bringing this further to life.

Breathing Space, however, is not all doom and gloom, with much dark humour strategically placed throughout the play, most notably by character Josef Meek (Sam Williams). This was, I believe, essential to the play as it allowed the audience to laugh and feel at ease in the same way as the characters amidst high levels of tension. Of course, there were moments where I felt that perhaps the tension was encompassing the play entirely, although the main point was the breaking down of the relationships between the characters, including shocking revelations throughout. However, sometimes I felt that perhaps this was simply too much. Perhaps a deeper connection with the audience and understanding of characters could have been achieved without the blazing rows. This was depicted beautifully in a scene between the Captain and character Isaac, both played by wonderful young actors, in which emotional confessions were made without the fiery tension of two characters yelling viciously at one another and is definitely something that I would have liked to see more of throughout. Nevertheless, this was a play that I enjoyed watching, with a particularly stunning ending. All of the cast and the creative team should be proud of it.

Breathing Space is being performed at The Three Minute Theatre from the 2nd to the 4th of March.

Writer/Director — Tyler Holland
Producer — Natalie Fern Davies
Designer — Grace Currie

Cast:
Mary Morris — Arkadina Morris
Ele Robinson —  Maria Ascolt
Adam Wadsworth — Isaac Fowler
Emma Tomson — Harriet Bowman
Sam Williams — Josef Meek
Phil Moynihan — Osmond Rowland

Advice with Araddhna

Ted Baker: What is the best way to successfully juggle work, university, and social life?

That’s a tough one – you definitely aren’t alone as I’m not sure any student has really succeeded in balancing the three perfectly. I know it can sometimes feel like you have to sacrifice one aspect, but you could always try to integrate a few of them. For instance, you could have study groups with friends on your course. Even something as simple as joining a society could help; you’d make new mates, it looks good on your CV, and you’d probably be going to regular socials.

Nick: I’m in first year and I’m struggling to integrate myself into uni life. What can I do to make it easier?

First things first, try to understand why you’re struggling with this. Most of the time, first years are worried they won’t ever meet someone with the same interests as them. But that’s the great thing about uni — you’re bound to find someone you’ll get on with! Have a look at the wide range of societies available to join on the Students’ Union website and pick out a few that you’d be interested in, or just make an effort to get involved in something totally new. Just remember that first years all have this same worry, but that soon disappears!

Silent Monkey: How do I nicely ask people in the library to stop talking loudly? I don’t want to be offensive but they disturb me working!

You’re going to come across people who aren’t considerate to others’ needs. The best way to solve this issue would definitely be to speak to them rather than to suffer in silence. Explain calmly that you can’t concentrate on your work with the noise, and you’d appreciate it if they lowered their volume. I think most people will be understanding and listen to you, but if they don’t, you might have to jump ship and abandon that study area whilst they’re there. There are tons of places on campus you can study in, so unless you’re really attached to that one spot in the Main Library, that may be your best option.

As always, if you’re really struggling with something and need advice, you can always talk to someone, be it your academic advisor, a friend, or even someone at Nightline if you want to remain anonymous.

Dealing with bereavement at university

University is an extremely pivotal part of every young person’s life. It is a huge upheaval and can cause a whole range of different emotions — fear, excitement, nervousness or apprehension. It is coined the ‘time of our lives’ since, for the most of us, we are at that in-between stage of adulthood: Mature enough to move out and fend for ourselves, but still bringing washing home every once in a while. However, for some students like myself there is the added pressure of having to deal with the never-ending struggle that is post-bereavement grief.

I lost my dad on the 2nd of June 2010, the day before my 15th birthday. I still remember the day clearly — we had been to visit a motorcycle dealership in Preston where my dad had booked a track day, and bought my mum a pair of motorcycle gloves. It was a really sunny day and I was sunbathing on the trampoline listening to my iPod when my dad left to go to a dentist appointment. He decided to take the bike.

I remember something feeling a bit off that day but I just brushed it aside. When my dad kissed my mum goodbye I remember thinking to myself, “tell her you love her”. It was a weird, overwhelming thought and when my dad said bye to me I just responded with that typical ‘yeah, bye’ teenage grunt. I thought nothing more of it until a few hours had passed and a police woman turned up on the driveway.

I didn’t actually notice her myself, but I remember my sister Ceri coming upstairs to tell me, and then I realised that my dad had been gone for much longer than he should’ve been for a dentist appointment.

I went outside and tried to calm down. I rang my dad’s mobile, telling myself that if he picked up everything would be ok: He would be riding his bike, it was a nice day, he would be making the most of it and be back soon. Obviously, he never answered.

The next thing I remember was my grandparents turning up on the driveway and walking over to my mum. I remember them all hugging each other and seeming very upset, but I didn’t think the worst had actually happened. My initial thought was that maybe he had fallen off and was in hospital, but soon we were all summoned into the kitchen where my mum broke the news that my dad had been killed in a motorcycle accident and would not be coming home.

My dad’s accident happened at a very confusing time in my life. As a teenager, I was already very self conscious like most girls, and in the process of trying to work out who I wanted to be — that is not to say that losing my dad at a different point in my life would’ve been any easier, but it had a huge knock-on effect on some of the most important years of my life to date, including my GCSE’s, A Levels and now university.

One of the most significant obstacles I have had to overcome since moving to university has been exams. As I previously mentioned, I lost my dad in the June of 2010, which is always right in the middle of exam season. Since year eleven, I have had to revise for and sit exams on or around the anniversary of my dad’s death, which is naturally a very difficult time for me. It is something I have had to just get used to because there is no way of getting around it in England — you cannot choose your own exam dates. There are, of course, mitigating circumstances, but I have only used these twice — for my GCSE exams in 2010 because they were directly after the accident, and then again in my second year of university when my grandma passed away.

Writing this now, I truly understand how ridiculous it sounds, but at the time I felt as if I was making a big deal out of nothing. I accepted results which were not a true reflection of my ability because I thought that when applying for mitigating circumstances I would either be told that it had not occurred in the recent past, or that I would be defined as the girl who needed special treatment because her dad had died. Of course now I know that this isn’t the case at all — I had lots of help in the form of deadline extensions and extra considerations on exam results, but I’m not someone who likes being the centre of attention and I allowed myself to suffer in silence because I thought I just had to get on with it.

The other big aspect of university life is the social element. On the one hand I didn’t want to miss out on the crucial first weeks where you form your friendship groups, but at the same time I was struggling on a personal level which often left me unable to leave my room. I wasn’t overly happy with my halls of residence, which definitely didn’t help, and I didn’t have the support system of living with people I was really close with.

Though there were nice people in the flats around me who would always text asking me to come out, I found myself saying no and settling in for a night in alone with a buffering Netflix every two seconds. After a while, people stopped persisting and I became a miserable recluse on top of the already-existing struggles I faced each day.

In my first year of university, I sat my final Italian exam on the 3rd of June, my birthday, and had planned to go out that night to celebrate. In the end, I was so overwhelmed from the stress of the past few days surrounding the anniversary of my dad’s death alongside revision that I had a panic attack and didn’t make it out at all. I felt like I had embarrassed myself and let all my friends down, but was at the same time resentful because it seemed as though they hadn’t remembered what was really going on. Looking back on it now, they had no reason to remember the date that I had probably mentioned only once before and were more concerned about my welfare than what had really caused it.

Although your friends at home probably know about your loss, your new friends might not and you may not have found the right time to tell them. It is difficult telling people who don’t already know, it often causes mild awkwardness, particularly if they have just asked you something along the lines of “so, what do your parents do?” or, in the case of one ex-boyfriend, “when am I going to meet your dad?”.

I was, however, very fortunate to meet some really amazing friends on my course who have been an incredible support network for me over the past two and a half years. Even now when we are all in separate foreign cities on our Erasmus year abroad, I know I can message them whenever for a chat, and I look forward to living with them when we return for our final year in September.

I chose to study a joint honours with a language because it allowed me the chance to improve my employability and live in a foreign country for a year whilst still receiving a student loan. When applying, I never really sat down and thought about how difficult it could be to uproot myself from a city only an hour’s train ride away from home and live in a country I had never even visited before. I was looking at it through rose-tinted glasses — the thought of getting a year’s break whilst my other friends were slogging over their dissertations was more than mildly appealing.

But I had an enormous sense of guilt when I first arrived — I felt as though I had left my family and friends behind. My grandma passed away in March 2016 when my sister was working in New Zealand on her gap year and I now understood how bad she had felt for not being at home. My mum warned me that my grandma’s death would probably set me right back to where I’d been in June 2010 and she was absolutely right — it came at a time when I was only just really beginning to accept what had happened to my dad. I was tempted to try put off my Erasmus year abroad, since I didn’t feel in the right mental state and, when September came and I was sat alone in Manchester Airport’s Terminal 3, it hit me that I was going to be more than just a quick train away from my closest support units for a significant amount of time.

Six months into my year abroad and I can say first hand that it has done me the world of good. Manchester is only around an hour away from my home in Preston, so I rely on the fact that I can go home whenever I really want with little expense, but the truth is, being out of my comfort zone has not only kept me too busy to dwell on things, it has also allowed me a break from the things which were affecting my mental health the most, such as employment and the pressure of constant presentations, assignments and exams. At the end of the day, Italy is only a 2 hour flight away from Manchester — so that if I really do need to go home I can, but I’m still far away enough to have been forced to find alternative coping mechanisms to deal with the grief alone.

A bittersweet by-product of losing a loved one is the amount of people who hurry to support you, telling you that they are always there and if you ever need anything to let them know, but I was only just 15 when the accident happened, and I didn’t really register at the time that I’d be grieving for the rest of my life while these people were just moving on with theirs. The saying ‘life goes on’ really does apply here — I felt resentful towards those who seemed to have forgotten about the situation two weeks later, when meanwhile my life had been turned upside down.

It is a very lonely experience and I understand now, from an outsider’s viewpoint, the reasons why many feel the need to back off, so as not to suffocate the person or to get back to their own lives. The world does not stop turning just because something like this happens. I still have days even now when I feel particularly low and wonder why none of my friends have asked how I am or why they all seem to be having an amazing time while I am moping in my room. The truth about living with loss is that you are never fully over it. Grief can do strange things to your mental state and skews even the most rational of situations but eventually you just learn to deal with this on a day-to-day basis. I think about my dad and my grandma every single day, but the way it affects me differs.

For anyone who has suffered a personal loss, whether it be recently or a while ago, just know that you’re not alone. There will undoubtedly be times when you feel low, numb, scared, angry, but there will times when you feel equally happy, remembering the good times with a smile rather than a tear. You will be able to sit with your loved ones and discuss the time your grandma did a jaeger-bomb at her 70th birthday party (true story) and you will be able to move forward, taking all of this with you as the biggest learning curve of your life.

University is tough for everyone, especially so for those battling with their mental health, and it can often seem as though there is no point to any of it — trust me, I have been there. One of the only things which motivated me to continue was the realisation that if I had been able to survive the loss of my dad, I could definitely survive a four year degree course. If you’re someone who is struggling, know that although it never gets easier, you will learn the best way to cope with it and come out the other side.

Album: Los Campesinos! – Sick Scenes

Released 24th February via Wichita

6/10

It’s incredibly hard to be objective about a Los Campesinos! album. The glorious indie-pop band by their very nature try and worm their way into the minutiae of your life — singer Gareth Paisley’s lyrics are so specific to him they end up inverting themselves and becoming universal. Their last record, No Blues, came out at a pivotal point in my awkward teenage years and became incredibly important to me, practically taking over my entire life.

So, the release of a new album three and a half years later made me more nervous than excited. I’d certainly moved on, but had they? Yes and no is the frustratingly vague answer. They’re certainly more mature, but they’re still ploughing the same furrows, and it hasn’t quite all come together this time.

Lyrically, the album is, as ever, exceptional. This is a desolate album, one no longer defined by relationship catastrophes (the traditional Los Campesinos! staple) but a deeper, older malaise — Gareth’s not heartbroken now, instead his twin muses of depression and death take centre stage, run through a messy filter of lower league football, booze-fuelled bodily destruction and our ongoing decline into a fascist hellscape.

‘A Slow, Slow Death’, one of the album’s few genuinely brilliant songs, is a great example of this. “A schoolboy hero replaced, domestic disgrace, a sad sack, a martyr/We here are common as dirt”, he sings, backed by a brass-soaked, drifting arrangement that’s more reminiscent of the end of The National’s ‘Fake Empire’ than ‘You! Me! Dancing!’.

However, whilst the lyrics are astonishing, the music just doesn’t do it justice. With a few exceptions, like the aforementioned horns, it’s glossy, slick and frankly a bit dull. Too many of the songs go for big emotional choruses without doing anything to earn them, and they seem to be devoid of any real emotion or necessity — it just seems like they made these songs because they’ve forgotten how to do anything else.

This overproduced veneer reaches its nadir on ‘The Fall of Home’, an embarrassing, twee mess that comes across studiously designed to seem earnest, but ends up sounding like it’s been written for a Match.com advert. Even Gareth seems a bit ashamed of it, as he forgets to sing on half of it.

There are exceptions, and some brilliant moments — the constantly rising, Shepard Tone-like tension of standout ‘Got Stendhal’s’; Gareth’s ragged, doomed yelps in ‘I Broke Up in Amarante’, fighting to get up above chaotic guitar squall; the final fuzzed out blast of the otherwise completely forgettable ‘Here’s to the Fourth Time’; the drowning, drunken lurch of ‘For Whom the Belly Tolls’’ breakdown — all of these moments are genuinely thrilling, and remind the listener why this band used to be so vital and life-changing.

Too often, though, the band plays it straight without trying anything new. These songs seem engineered to sound like Los Campesinos!, to be big singalong choruses to scream at gigs, but they miss what made the band great — the desperation, the sense that they need to make this music or their bodies might explode. Gareth’s lyrics remain the best in the business, but they’ve been away too long, and now they’re trying too much to sound like themselves. Ultimately, no matter how much they (and I) want it to be, it’s just not the same.

That said, this album has grown on me a lot since I first listened to it, so it could end up revealing more hidden depths than the plodding arrangements initially seem to have. So far though, it just doesn’t compare to their previous work.

Live: Elvana — Elvis-fronted Nirvana

12th February at Ruby Lounge

7.5/10

Forming a cover band used to be so easy. Learn to play the songs of another band, appropriate their particular time-sensitive aesthetic and adopt a name similar enough to create nostalgia while also being possible to Google. (cf. The Smyths, Noasis, The Clone Roses etc.) Then sit and wait for the bookings at pubs, strange venues on a Tuesday or weddings of those too boring to escape sentimentality to roll in. Who wouldn’t want to begin their nuptial bliss to the sound of a coiffured man from Bolton singing ‘your song’ about getting creamed by the 142.

Sadly in these turbulent times this will simply no longer suffice. As Engels wrote from Manchester, the giants of the past ‘direct history from the grave […] causing everything to be re-enacted twice over, once as grand tragedy and the second time as farce.’ Both Elvis and Kurt Cobain defined the sound of a generation before becoming overwhelmed by the evils of deep fried food and being married to Courtney Love* respectively.

Out of these ashes, like the musical equivalent of fusion food, Elvana was birthed. Striking out at the heart of the fundamental purpose of a cover band, verisimilitude, they have attempted to twin the 1950s innuendo of Elvis with songs about abortifacients.

The Nirvana portion was very well done, carrying the band. Crowds of pissed leather-jacketed men tend to react badly to a man in a sequinned jumpsuit, but their ability to crank out songs like ‘Aneurysm’, ‘You Know You’re Right’ and ‘Sliver’ was testament to their overall above average rendition of Cobain’s back-catalogue. Furthermore they managed to avoid simply repeating the litany of over-played hits a less accomplished group would perform.

On the flip-side, the Elvis act felt like a bit of a novelty, mostly staying on the right side of gimmicky by occasionally throwing in a ‘yuh-huh’ in between yelling ‘Rape Me.’ Much like fusion cuisine, Elvana promise the same things that a curry pizza does; two things you like crushed together in a beautiful mess, but you know that one of them will always win out.

During ‘Suspicious Minds’ Elvis came into the crowd and was lifted up so he could experience the sweat stalactites forming on the roof of Ruby Lounge’s cramped ceiling. Standing underneath this man from Stoke-on-Trent pretending to be Elvis pretending to be Kurt Cobain, wedged between his upper thigh and his left buttock the farce became exposed. What would Cobain have thought? Would he approve? Sure, they didn’t play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, but at what cost?

How would Elvis have viewed these long-haired punks moshing about while a strange man yells about how shit life is? He probably would have liked all the bits about ice cream though. Regardless, Elvana struck a chord with the audience, being similar enough to enjoy but ironic enough to not take too seriously. Maybe this represents a new era of cover bands. Mexrrissey (Mexican Smiths) have already taken Manchester by storm. Why stop there? Personally, I can see a whole sub-genre of hybrid cover-bands. The Velvet Monkeys? ‘Cause every bady knooows you’re a fem’ fetale.  Or Märelyhead? Elvana worked, form your own ungodly mess now while the pickings are rich.

*views are writers’ own

Does contemporary art have a bad reputation?

During the summer I watched two documentaries, the first was about American artist Georgia O’Keefe, the other focused on British artist Cornelia Parker. O’Keefe is well known for her floral and landscape paintings which capture the essence of the American west. Contrastingly Parker explodes sheds, crushes objects and suspends things to create surreal installations. These women and their work are both generally praised by the art world, yet without a doubt the majority of people prefer the paintings of O’Keefe over Parker’s abstract sculptures, sticking to the comforting safety of the familiar and taking a sceptical approach towards the unknown.

Contemporary art can often be dismissed as being a bit pointless and lacking in skill. The clichéd “my five year old could do this” phrase is mentioned if an artists’ work looks too simple, and there’s always the jokes about staring at random aspects of art galleries, believing that used tissues and emergency exit signs are part of exhibitions. Yes, a lot of contemporary artworks do seem a bit basic at first glance, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t contain complex concepts — in fact, the ideas contained within these works are frequently more profound than those in much older (however more popular) paintings. And surely the more recent the artwork, the more relevant the message is for the modern viewer, right?

Rachel Maclean’s recent exhibition at HOME is an example of this. It featured bizarre wall hangings in clashing colours, grotesque sculptures and a disturbing video. It wasn’t an easy exhibition to experience and not to everyone’s taste, but the message it expressed of our relationship with social media and technology really struck a chord, more so than a lot of other artworks I’ve seen. There seems to be this ongoing belief that art should be pretty, a visual pleasure and nothing more. But art should conjure up emotions and provoke thoughts, even if they are uncomfortable and cause unease.

But is contemporary art worthy of our appreciation, even if it doesn’t require the skills used by more traditional artists? The sheer nerve to push the boundaries of artistic expectations surely deserves our respect; taking a risk is just as (or more) impressive than painting a half smiling woman. Furthermore, to publicly deal with issues that often remain unspoken, makes works such as My Bed by Tracey Emin culturally significant. It’s time contemporary art lost its undeserved bad reputation.

 

Review: Comptoir Libanais

If you were to ask most people what their favourite Indian food is, you could expect them to reel off a list of their favourite curries. Even the those with the least adventurous taste buds will realistically enjoy a korma! The same goes for their favourite Chinese food, Italian food, even their favourite Mexican. But, I will bet you now that most people would be stumped when asked for their favourite Lebanese food, myself included, which is why I took the trip down to Comptoir Libanais. Located in the heart of Spinningfields, Comptoir Libanais specialises in Lebanese and Middle Eastern food, with a menu comprising some more familiar dishes such as hummus and tabbouleh along with some less familiar dishes such as kibbeh and lahme man’ousha.

If you are someone who likes to go to a restaurant, order their own food and eat only their own food, then this is not the place for you. The whole essence of Lebanese cooking is about grabbing a little bit of this and that and sharing, creating an immersive experience for the whole family to enjoy. Grab a pitta bread and try the hummus. Try some tabbouleh with the baba ghanuj. Try mixing the batata harra with the moudardara and the shish taouk – That’s small cubes of fried potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce mixed with grilled chicken and lentil salad to you and me.

With so much on offer, it is hard to imagine even the fussiest of eaters not finding something they like here. The cold mezze plate arrived first, with a rich, thick hummus, smoky baba ghanuj, fresh and zingy tabbouleh, lentil salad and pitta bread. It has to be said the hummus was thicker and stronger than most people will be used to, but after the shock of the first taste it goes down a treat. The strong citrus flavour from the tabbouleh cuts perfectly through the richness of the dips and the pitta bread provides the perfect plate on which to pile mouthful after mouthful. Quickly after the arrival of the cold mezze came the mixed grill. Containing a lamb kofta, chicken kofta, and shish taouk (grilled chicken pieces) this provided the perfect way to sample the best of the grilled meats that Comptoir Libanais has to offer. All served with vermicelli rice, the shish taouk stands out as the pick of the bunch. Succulent chicken pieces that require very little flavour other than the method of cooking, grilled over a charcoal fire, this is an excellent dish I would happily recommend to anyone. The lamb kofta was soft and flavoured just enough with cumin and mint so as to stand up against the flavours of the dips with which it went so well with. The only disappointment in the mixed grill was the chicken kofta, somewhat limp and lifeless it did not do justice to either the grill on which it was cooked or the collection of mezze ingredients around it on the table.

To complete our table we ordered batata harra, cubes of fried potato in a tomato sauce (think of a sort of Lebanese patatas bravas), lahme man’ousha, a flatbread topped with lamb mince fried onion and fresh herbs, kibbeh, small balls of deep fried bulgur wheat and lamb mince and finally a small salad. The batata harra were lacking the touch of spice and a couple of minutes extra frying which would have elevated them from pleasant to excellent, but they added some much-needed texture to the meal as a whole. The flatbread was a somewhat acquired taste. That is not to say it was unpleasant but let’s just say there was more flatbread left than anything else when the waitress cleared the plates…

Overall, with its modern street food-inspired décor, friendly service and convivial approach to food, this is a restaurant I would highly recommend. Each individual item of food was enjoyable, but the meal came into its own when eaten as a whole. The various elements all worked together extremely well and when all washed down with a bottle of Almaza, a thoroughly enjoyable Lebanese lager, made for a delicious and enjoyable meal.

Scientists are facing a ‘reproducibility crisis’

Earlier this year the Reproducibility Project at the University of Virginia released the first sets of analysed data from their study on 29 cancer biology papers. The study is part of a wider project to improve reproducibility across scientific papers and publications by independently repeating the experiments.

Reproducibility refers to the ability of scientists to repeat an experiment and produce results supporting those published by following the method detailed.

The reproduced results released were from five experimental studies, of which only two experiments were deemed to be “substantially reproduced”. Two had “uninterpretable results” and one failed completely. Tim Errington, who manages the project, explained that this may be due to a lack of details regarding method in scientific papers rather than fraud in the published results.

The scientific journal Nature sent a reproducibility survey to over 1,500 researchers in 2016 in which 90 per cent of respondents said they believed there was a reproducibility crisis in science. Increasingly, papers are being found to be irreproducible. The same survey in Nature found that over two-thirds of respondents had tried and failed to reproduce results found by other scientists.

Those surveyed identified the main issues negatively impacting the reproducibility of papers were selective reporting and pressure to publish. Furthermore, 80 per cent thought that funding bodies should do more to improve the reproducibility of papers, as they often choose the most exciting and unexpected results to pull attention to the studies they sponsor.

There are differing opinions across the scientific community in regards to the Reproducibility Project. Some scientists worry that failure to reproduce results in their experiments may lead to loss of funding; if the repeat experiment involved mistakes or problems it cannot be restarted to prevent replication bias.

However, reproducibility is at the core of evidence-based science. Despite the potential of negative implications for researchers from the reproducibility project, it promotes skepticism in reviewing and publishing papers. The project is undoubtedly a step towards pulling the field out of the ‘crisis’ it is currently facing.

Interview: Lower Than Atlantis

I was given the opportunity, despite the technical hitch due to Storm Doris and her effect on telephone lines, to interview Eddy Thrower, the drummer for Lower Than Atlantis.

The band has produced five albums, their first being in 2010, so I was pushed for original questions. Hoping to get an impression on their future prospects I asked about where the band expects to see themselves after their tour. Although he couldn’t divulge much, Thrower did say: “Hopefully bigger and better things really” while also suggesting “new fans, bigger audiences and to travel across the world”. This can be heard in their music as the band appear to dip their toes into the ‘mainstream’, but is also one of the stronger criticisms against the album Safe In Sound that was released early February this year.

Keeping with the theme of easy questions, Eddy told me his favourite song from the new album was ‘Had Enough’ which took him no time to answer: “It defines everything about LTA: heaviness and the electronic side and the groove.” As it opens the album it would make sense that it attempts to set the mood of their new release, although looking at other reviews older fans are disappointed by the band’s new direction. Their first album, Far Q was categorised as hardcore punk music, however in time with the development of the band they are what Spotify would define as ‘melodic indie rock’ maybe even pushing the boundaries to pop in the catchy, if a little repetitive, first song of Safe In Sound.

Before I properly broached the topic of their ‘new’ genre I wanted to ask about the practical method of creating their music. Out of pure interest I wanted to know if Eddy was ever technically challenged by their songs but he answered: “They don’t really test me, I don’t have to think or practice.” His response took an interesting turn as to my mind he started to confirm the allegations that the band is now trying to aim for arenas with the music they produce. He admitted that he was challenged in some way because, “you want to cater to everyone, especially non-drummers, you want to write parts that are digestible to larger audiences, not necessarily the skilled drummers in their mum’s bedroom.”

Eddy, while playing for Lower Than Atlantis, also has done session work for One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer but he has clearly been able to retain his distinctive style of playing despite the challenges made against the new album. Describing the process of creating the new album Eddy explained that “we didn’t really care about indie, rock, metal, pop, on the last album we wrote music and things stuck so we know what works for us” defining the classic style as “the heavy songs with the pop chorus”. However he also maintained that “you’ve got to be original, music is so throwaway these days, you have to have your own thing, you can’t constantly adapt to what’s cool.”

Bouncing off his use of the word ‘cool’ I pushed to ask about their song ‘Boomerang’ which has been pigeoned as the one to pull in the masses. I’ve seen articles use the phrase ‘engineered for the airwaves’ so I was intrigued to see how Eddy would respond. “It sounds different, it’s mainly electronic, it wasn’t like ‘we need a song for these people’ ‘we need a song like Boomerang to get us on the radio’, it doesn’t happen like that, it’s a natural thing and we hope people are into it.” At this point I should say that I really enjoy the album so, while I can understand the criticisms, it is also fair-game to the band to want to get their music heard by a wider audience.

Possibly again touching on a soft spot for the band I brought up the comments about their polished new sound. Eddy responded saying: “If it had rock drums in it, it wouldn’t be different, just because it has electric drums, it has a few synths instead of a guitar, and people assume it’s a completely different world apart.” While what he said was true I couldn’t help but question it; surely the instruments make up a strong part of the identity of a genre? Although, he did continue to say, “a song is a song and that’s what people forget, especially in the rock world, you’re limited in what you can do, people have really stubborn opinions about things that are different, they don’t listen to the song, they just listen to the instruments and it’s kind of frustrating.”

As a final note he added “You’ve just got to be you and not get caught up in what’s ‘rock’ and what’s ‘pop’, if it’s a good song, it’s a good song and if it’s shit, it’s shit!”

Album: Sun Kil Moon – Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood

Released 17th February via Caldo Verde Records

7/10

Sun Kil Moon is the project of critically acclaimed musician and your sad uncle who ruined Christmas dinner, Mark Kozelek. Now three albums deep into his inimitable style of an entire human consciousness set to music, Kozelek’s highjacking of what exactly constitutes a ‘song’ has reached its climax with such lowly notions as melody and song structure being taken as hostage. In Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood Koz lays out his demands: the listener’s time, social media accounts and in my case sanity. That’s not to say this is a bad album, it’s just asking an incredible amount from its audience.

Each track is a lengthy unfiltered stream of consciousness which can meander from a meditation on mortality to a Manny Pacquiaou fight Kozelek lost a bet on — and by lengthy I mean lengthy, as in the album is over two hours long. When you sit through a man essentially reading out his diary for two hours, the words ‘self indulgent’ eventually lose all meaning. But as easy as it is to knock this album there’s also something uniquely enticing about it.

This is a stranger spilling their guts out to you, a rare trip through someone else’s head. While Kozelek is ostensibly an old grouch with an axe to grind for millennials, he is also capable of joyous testaments to love and the power of music, of melancholic reminiscences of his forgotten hometown in Ohio, and the people who live there. There are strange fabricated true crime stories concerning the murder of an Eric Clapton tribute act, an 8-minute long obituary to a roadie named Butch and touching tributes to the greats we lost in 2016.

While many musical artists take their experiences and reduce them to general truths, this album does the opposite, with detailed descriptions of daily life in all its minutiae. Beauty is often found in the detail, and by the end you are left with a very real sense of both the wonders and contradictions of life. Unfortunately the size of this project obscures its merits. The same goes for the music which backs these monologues, set largely to minimal synth-driven bass lines and powerful drum loops which mostly works but grows monotonous. While musical diversity is offered in the form of sun-drenched guitars and the occasional trumpet there’s never quite enough of it.

This is an album full of surprises but it’s hard to be surprised when your brain’s leaking out of your ears. Somewhere between Mark detailing how he had to change hotel room because a lift was making too much noise and the unabridged reading of a cancellation letter from a club owner, you find yourself asking, what did I do to deserve this? And more importantly what did he do to deserve this. I’m giving this man more time than I would probably give my own father unless he was dying. In the age of Trump are the endless ramblings of another bloated old white man really what the world needs right now?

So it’s a hard call. Maybe it needs a good edit, or maybe that would destroy the very thing that draws me to it. It could be that Mark is trailblazing the next hot genre, ‘Podcast Rock’, and the world simply isn’t ready. Or he could be the musical equivalent of an old drunk muttering to himself at a bus stop. It heavily depends on the listener. If you’re a fan of his music, and you have the time, then this album can be an incredibly rewarding listening experience, if not an infuriating one. It might be that I’m a fool with too much time on my hands, and an unearned reverence for a certain kind of asshole, but I think I might have loved it. Then again there’s a high chance I’m never going to listen to it ever again.

Top 5: Book to Film Adaptations

There is always one person who will say “the book is better” whenever you mention a film based on a book. What many book lovers overlook is that books and films are two completely different mediums, and so the same rules should not be applied when considering them. Ultimately, the directors and writers provide their interpretation of the book, and it is challenging to create a successful visual representation of the authors work, which effectively tells the story. Here are a few which got it right.

5. American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis’ novel about Patrick Bateman, a businessman by day and a serial killer by night is renowned for its explicit content, and very specific descriptions of brutal violence. The film pays close attention to the obsessive tone of the novel and takes care in the minute details, which even involves a very meticulous approach to Bateman’s clothes and personal lifestyle. Christian Bale gives a phenomenal performance as Bateman, changing with such fluidity from one mind-set of his character to another.

4. The Help

Katherine Stockette’s novel tells the story of black maids working in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. The film has a powerful all women ensemble including, Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, and Jessica Chastain, with the latter two earning Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Both the novel and film are an intimate portrayal of historic race relations, which are elevated by the terrific performances.

3. The Martian

Directed by Ridley Scott and based on the novel by Andy Weir, The Martian is a humorous take on the sci-fi genre. Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney a botanist who is initially assumed dead, only to be surviving on Mars, the story follows Watney’s struggle and his crews attempts to bring him back home. Both the novel, and the film are able to bring tension and laughter to an inspiring story and it is all around enjoyable to watch.

2. Fight Club

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, which explores many sociological and philosophical themes, the story sparked debates amongst many; the film upon its original release was rather controversial. Though now David Fincher’s brilliant adaptation has become a cult classic, and equally depicts the underlying notions in the novel. Starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter, the unnamed protagonist working in a typical white-collar job, who is suffering from insomnia, finds solace in underground fight clubs.

1. Hugo

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, follows a young boy living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris, where after coming across a key to his automaton he is lead on the most unexpected journey, uncovering many secrets. Hugo is the epitome of how to adapt a book into a film. The unique aspect of the book is that a lot of it is told through pictures, and Martin Scorsese brought these to detailed illustrations to life as well as the story. It is visually stunning, and all cinephiles will be in awe of the homage to the very first filmmakers.

 

Let’s talk about Emma Watson and the Vanity Fair controversy

Emma Watson was criticised recently for posing topless for a Vanity Fair photograph. I should probably correct that; the photograph was of her nearly topless. I clarify, because every headline I read claimed she “stripped topless,” so I was actually surprised to see her covered up in the photograph. Not that this is the point at all, but different clothing styles show all sorts of cleavage, side-boob, under-boob, and any type of boob in general. So why is everyone up in Watson’s grill?

Well, after seeing the photograph, some had a total meltdown. People took to social media to criticise Watson because she was a “hypocrite.” Apparently, some people had got the wrong end of the stick and thought Emma Watson, back in 2016, had condemned Beyoncé’s use of sexuality in her Lemonade album. However, Watson cleared things up by tweeting out a copy of her interview to her 24 million Twitter followers.

In the original transcript, Watson is quoted as saying: “[Beyoncé] does make it clear that she is performing for [Jay-Z] and the fact she wasn’t doing it for a label, she was doing it for herself and the control that she has directing it and putting it out there, I agree is making her sexuality empowering because it is her choice.”

She continued: “The second is that I would say you do get sense of, ‘I can be a feminist, I can be an intellectual, I can be all these other things, but I can also be ok with my femininity, and being pretty and with all these things that I thought might negate my message or negate what I am about.’ That really is the most interesting thing about the album. It is so inclusive and puts feminism and femininity and female empowerment on such a broad spectrum.”

Watson also fired back at critics, saying: “It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is. Feminism is about giving women choice, feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women.

“It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing. Most people are confused. They were saying that I couldn’t be a feminist and have boobs.”

As we celebrated International Women’s Day on the 8th of March, social media was covered in quotes and messages about feminism and inspirational women. People even wore red and changed their social media profile pictures to show a “sign of solidarity” that they believed in women’s rights. Yet the same women were some of those attacking Emma Watson’s topless-but-not-really-topless photo shoot picture.

It has been said time and time again; feminism has nothing to do with what you wear. It’s about women having the same opportunities, rights, respect, and choices as men. To criticise Emma Watson over what she wants to wear is backward, and it goes against the very nature of feminism. You cannot tell her how to live her life, just as you cannot tell anyone else.

By baring part of her chest, Watson is not an object — she is living in a society that is objectifying her. I wouldn’t say that being a feminist means you have to show off parts of your body, but it is clear that feminism is about free choice.

Emma Watson can do and wear what she wants. And so can any woman.

Barcelona 6-1 PSG

Barcelona staged the greatest comeback in UEFA Champions League history, beating Paris Saint-Germain on a mesmeric night at the Camp Nou to progress through to the quarter-finals of the competition for the tenth year running. In doing so, they overturned a 4-0 first leg deficit.

Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez gave Barcelona the perfect start, putting his side ahead after two and a half minutes. Wave after wave of Barcelona attack followed throughout the first half, and eventually PSG couldn’t cope as the hosts doubled their lead shortly before the break — a sublime back heel from the virtuoso Andres Iniesta forced Layvin Kurzawa to put through his own net.

They were in no mood to stop either. In the second half, the men in red and blue flew out of the blocks as quick as they did in the first, and it didn’t take long for them to extend their lead. Thomas Meunier brought down Neymar in the penalty area, and Lionel Messi converted in emphatic style.

Barcelona tortured their French counterparts, but the visitors soon got their break when Edinson Cavani netted his 38th goal of the season, firing into the roof of the net past a helpless Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Roles were soon reversed, however, as Cavani went through one-on one but was denied by the left boot of the German goalkeeper. The game became increasingly stretched as the second half wore on, and star of the first leg Angel di Maria broke away but failed to convert — he and PSG would be made to pay.

A late onslaught from Barcelona turned the tie. A marvellous, trademark free-kick from Neymar seen the seemingly impossible task back on track, before Suarez was fouled by Brazilian defender Marquinhos two minutes later, earning his side a controversial penalty.

Marquinhos’ international compatriot Neymar converted his spot kick as Messi had done, and then turned provider for substitute Sergi Roberto to complete an unbelievable comeback. A comeback which will undoubtedly live long in the memory.

It was one of the best European nights ever seen, and Neymar was the instigator of the colossus comeback. He was Barcelona’s best player in a miserable night in Paris three weeks previously, but in the return leg he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. It was perhaps the Brazilian superstar’s best game in a Barcelona shirt.

Neymar was PSG’s chief tyrant, but the whole team played their part in an amazing night in Spain’s second city. Suarez’s never say die attitude was evident right until the very end, and Messi was constantly plugging away trying to create chances.

Iniesta was withdrawn with around 25 minutes to go, but in the time, he was on the pitch he instigated proceedings in typical fashion. Barcelona’s back line was much better than in the first leg, justifying Enrique’s selection to go with three defenders.

Second half substitutes Arda Turan and Andre Gomes added fresh legs, playing their part, and needless to say, Sergi Roberto’s name will be forever edged into Barcelona tradition. The togetherness of Enrique’s warriors got them over the line.

In many ways, the game at the Camp Nou was reminiscent of the game at the Parc des Princes, with the tables turned. Barcelona absolutely suffocated their opponents from start to finish, just as PSG had done to them in the first leg. The result marked redemption, it was no more than Barcelona deserved.

Enrique courageously, or rather sensibly, changed his formation, perhaps something he should have done in France. The extra man at the back made Barcelona more durable, allowing them to cope effectively with PSG’s attacking threat.

Remarkably, Barcelona’s defensive trio of Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti spent more time in PSG’s half than in their own half over the course of the 90 minutes (51-49%).

Offensively, the attacking players were granted greater freedom with Sergio Busquets playing faultlessly in front of the three defenders. This meant that lethal the attacking South American trident of Messi, Suarez and Neymar could play closer together, and the midfielders gained more space, with the licence to push further up the pitch.

The change in formation made all the difference, and it is a system they could use later in the competition as they bid to win the European Cup for the sixth time.

The extraordinary result means that Barcelona joined Spanish rivals Real Madrid, along with German teams Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in what already looks like a mouth-watering quarter-final line-up.

The result also proved that nothing is beyond Luis Enrique’s side, and as well as beating PSG in ruthless fashion on the night, the Blaugrana sent a firm message out to the rest of Europe’s teams — we’re coming for you.

Easy Bread Recipe

Ingredients

300g strong white bread flour (strong flour)

1.5tsp (5g) dried instant yeast

1tsp salt

1tsp sugar

150ml warm water (1 part boiling to 2 parts cold)

10g melted butter or olive oil

Method

Place the flour in a large bowl with the yeast on one side and the salt on the other (if the salt and yeast touch then the salt will kill the yeast). Pour in the sugar, water and oil or butter. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to mix everything together into a dough. Tip it out onto a floured work surface and knead it, pushing the ball of dough away from you with the heel of your hand and then bringing it back towards you. Repeat this for about 10 minutes until the dough is stretchy and doesn’t break if you stretch a golfball sized piece so thin you can see the light through it.
Oil a large, clean bowl and place the dough into it. Cover the top of the bowl tightly with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).

Take out of the bowl and knock it back by kneading it as before for a minute. Roll it into a ball and tuck down the sides repeatedly so that the top becomes tight. Place on a tray lined with baking paper and cover loosely with clingfilm. Once again, leave it to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 220ºC while the bread is proving.
Take the clingfilm off the bread and sprinkle with flour. Slash the top of the loaf with a knife (see image) to allow the bread to rise in the oven.

Place the loaf in the hot oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, until the crust is golden and it sounds hollow when you tap the base (this sounds odd but you’ll understand when you hear it).

Leave to cool on a wire rack and then enjoy warm, slathered with butter.

Next week make sure to advance to our Malt Loaf

Live: Highly Suspect

7th March at Sound Control

5/10

One thing that’s important to state from the offset about Highly Suspect is this: their music is loud. Very loud. This is of course something to be embraced by fans of the alt-rock trio, but does become somewhat tiresome as the night wears on, with some songs becoming indistinguishable from others due to the incessant, uncontrolled — ironically, given the venue — sound.

They open with an impressively energetic cover of Real Life’s ‘80s hit ‘Send Me An Angel’, before progressing into two popular songs from their debut album Mister Asylum; ‘Bath Salts’ and ‘Lost’; the latter encouraging the first of many clapalongs from the willing audience. It seems a little paradoxical that this punk rock/pop band encourages their audience to clap along to many of their songs, but it is their readiness to have fun, to really enjoy themselves and for their fans to do the same, that sees them refuse to stick purely to the angsty, over-serious constructs that their genre and lyrics imply.

This is, however, followed by the uncomfortably yelled ‘Viper Strike’, as a preference for noise again displaces vocals and music. In fairness, though, there are no pretensions here as lead vocalist Johnny Stevens announces that he intends to “fuck your eardrums” as “that’s the point of it”.

The second half of the show appears far more self-reflective and measured, with the slow but funky and romantic ‘Round and Round’, which includes a long instrumental, bringing a welcome respite from the previous onslaught.

‘Serotonia’, a single from their new album, invokes a large cheer, and, whilst one of their best and most thought-through songs, is briefly interrupted as Stevens jokes about the audience’s out of rhythm clapping — there is no sense of him wanting them to stop though, indeed he ends up leading them as the song crescendos.

The rendition of their biggest hit, ‘Lydia’, is pleasingly ominous and slower than the studio version, and his showmanship is evident as he teases the crowd by downing his drink rather than immediately singing the chorus. The anticipation rises, and the second half of the song is the strongest performance of the night.

The evening concludes with a hugely impressive (though a tad self-indulgent) drum solo from Ryan Meyer that seems straight out of Whiplash, though one wonders whether it might have served its purpose better at the start, rather than pre-encore.

When Highly Suspect play their songs straightforwardly and with the emotion reflected in their lyrics, they are very enjoyable. Disappointment arises, however, when in their obvious attempts not to be pigeonholed, they lose track of the quality of sound that their admittedly smart lyrics require.

Feminism and Japanese fashion

In many ways Japan is considered a very forward thinking country. It’s an incredibly diverse culture, one where westernisation and technological advances are blended with traditional culture and customs. However the oppression of women in Japanese society continues to be an ongoing issue and one that is often noticed in the western world.

This is partly due to the large presence of Joshi Kousi, or JK, a popular movement involving dressing in various adaptations of school-girl clothing. JK is very popular in Japan and is a style that both men and women embrace. Recently, BBC3 released a documentary by Stacey Dooley where she investigated the links between the sexualisation of school girls and how JK is used to sell all sorts of things, from cosmetics to pornography.

However as an avid follower of Japanese fashion, I do not think enough is said regarding the positive impact their fashion has on women in Japan. One of the most noticeable things about J-fashion is how expressive and diverse it is, with a huge variety of trends. One good example of this is Lolita fashion; it is a trend that is influenced by Victorian and Edwardian clothing with an array of denominations, from ‘sweet’ which involves pastel colours and motifs of cartoon animals and bows or ‘gothic’ which is far darker. Lolita fashion involves covering the skin and wearing many layers; it is often assumed to have links to Nobakov’s controversial novel of the same name, which it does not. This just goes to show that there tends to be a misconception in Western society about the variety of styles that exist in Japan and their connections to oversexualisation and the male gaze.

In my eyes, the real problem here is the sexualisation of children which appears in every fashion industry in the world, such as the release of padded bikinis for children by Abercrombie and Fitch, and the child model Thylane Blondeau who appeared fully made up and posing provocatively in French Vogue. So while Japan is no different, that is not its sole identifier. It is so important to embrace cultural differences in the global fashion industry and to understand that what is considered sexual or disrespectful in one society may not translate into another.

Fashion is an amazing gateway for people to express their personality, ideas and political beliefs. And the beautiful, creative and expressive styles that are found on the streets of Japan are one more example of how women are empowering and expressing themselves every day.

The life of a midwife

A few months ago, I was talking with a student midwife. Due to my lack of knowledge on the course, I was curious as to what it included. From that conversation, I resolved to write an article on the matter. So, over the last few weeks, I have interviewed 3 midwifery students.

For the purposes of this article I will be keeping their names and the NHS trusts at which they work anonymous. The one major detail I will divulge about them, is that these three women have a passion for their course. A real love for what they do and an emotional connection to their studies that most of us seem to lack.

I started off by asking the three women why they chose to do midwifery at university. One of them told me that “I like dealing with people, I always wanted to work in health care” and that she “enjoyed supporting families, especially working with women and children, and helping society as a whole’” Another, who hails from Wales, said that she decided on it after her experiences with the poor maternity care she had seen her stepmother receive. She also spoke about how “women really appreciate the care we give, for some it’s the first time they will have had this kind of contact with the health service and so they can often be scared”.

The third midwife also spoke of the fact that many women can find the prospect of pregnancy and the health service scary. She also said that “when they come to you, these people aren’t sick. They’ve come to you for a happy reason”. But the most stress that she placed on her reason for choosing midwifery was what she saw as the significance of being the first person to touch and see a new born baby.

These are young people, like you and me, who are not taking their degree because they think that it will make them a lot of money afterwards. They are not doing it because they see it as the easiest way towards a 2:1. They, and many other students like them, are doing it because they see it as either their duty, or their calling, to not only help people but to also make their communities a better place. The one young woman from Wales, expressed quite passionately her desire to go back and improve what she called “the poorly run maternity services in Wales”.

They have also worked incredibly hard to get to where they are, and they continue to work harder than most of us. Just to be admitted onto their course, they have had to achieve A levels of AAA-AAB; sit through Math and English tests on the same day of their interview; be DBS checked; and pass comprehensive medical tests. They also have to do yearly declaration of integrity. One of the three said that “it feels like there is constant scrutiny”. But this should not be taken negatively. They wholeheartedly believe that the scrutiny will make them better midwives. After all, they are dealing with the lives of women and babies, who at the time of the birth, can often be at their most vulnerable. I am told that the pressure of the course is such that over the past year and a half, they have seen 1 in 6 of the women on their course drop out. I am told that this is either due to the intensity and rigour that goes hand in hand with the course, or because some end up falling pregnant. I am told that “it’s not uncommon for some of the girls on the course to get broody”.

And when I ask specifically about the basic structure of the course, I am blown away with the amount of work they put in. First of all, their course is 45 weeks long. They only get 7 weeks off a year. Further to that, while students like myself make do with 6 contact hours a week of seminars and lectures, midwives put in a staggering 37.5 hour week, 22.5 of which is usually spent in hospital. They also work during the exam periods as they inform me that “when your mentor is working, you are working”. They do not get time to revise for exams. Instead, they have to fit it in-between antenatal care, postnatal care, and assisting with births.

One thing I was also asked to stress specifically is that, to pass their course, they also have to do a “metric fuck-tonne of paper work”. Everything they do has to be logged in order for them to graduate successfully.

This is most certainly not the most interesting part of their work. That occurs on the ward, where new life is brought into the world, and sometimes in very stressful circumstances. So then I asked them each two questions. Obviously, the nature of their work can be very emotional and dramatic at times. So, I enquired as to what they thought was their favourite and least favourite moment of the course.

They all had very different answers. One said “I really enjoyed seeing the same woman in antenatal and postnatal care. I got to see her development over all the months. I didn’t give her any significant care, we would just talk. But after she left I got a card from her and that was really nice.”

The second said “I know it sounds clichéd but it was my first delivery. Seeing your name on the delivery sheet and thinking that today was that day. I cried on the bus the whole way home. It’s that realisation that you have delivered a baby which is something special”.

The third midwife’s account really touched on the social issues that sometimes come with pregnancy. “It was like my third delivery or something and I had this really appreciative woman without a husband. It was after she had delivered the baby and I went to visit the woman in her home. We were really pleased to see each other. She had a lot of social issues to deal with and I really felt I had made a difference. Even if it was just that one mother and one baby.”

Then I asked about their least favourite moments. It was not until the three had explained to me the trials and tribulations of childbirth that I realised what can occur. Some women can lose as much as 2 litres of blood during the process through something called a post-partum haemorrhage which the midwives described as occasionally resembling a “fountain of blood”. They talk of this casually. This is the stuff that happens every day and they have procedures to make sure that should something like this occur, they can stop it. They say that 9 times out of 10 everything, even if there are some complications, it will go absolutely fine.

One of the women spoke of her worst day, which in the end came out with a happy ending. “We had this Jewish lady who was unable to give birth conventionally but she was refusing a C-section. They had to call the Rabbi but the baby’s heart beat began to dip and so we had to get her on the table ready for the operation. We had her on the table and the husband was worried and on the phone to the Rabbi and we lost the baby’s heartbeat. It was only 3 minutes but it felt like an eternity. In the end we managed to find the heartbeat and the baby came out a bit bruised but otherwise fine. I’d just felt so helpless standing there while everyone ran around shouting. The parents were helpless. The consultants were shouting lots and I just had to stand there. It was all fine in the end though”.

One of the midwives’ stories, though less dramatic, clearly meant a great deal to her. “On my last day at my last trust, I was dealing with a couple who were both GP’s and they had specifically asked for a student. We had to do a manual removal of the woman’s placenta and the mother wanted it to be a significant moment for me. In the end, I only played a little role and she was a bit sad that she couldn’t have done something else to make it memorable. But in the end we had a group photo with the family which was really nice”. She said that it was sad for her because she felt that she had disappointed the woman who desperately wanted her to play a role in her birth.

The next story of the third midwife’s worst day really emphasises the worry that many of these women feel when it comes to their patients. “This is probably going to sound a bit silly but it was my first day at a new trust. We had an unwell baby we were delivering and I was just really worried about the baby. Like, what if I couldn’t find the necessary equipment or tools. I just didn’t know where anything was kept and I really didn’t like that”.

To me, all of these stories have one thing in common. While these have supposedly been the girls “worst days” of their course, the reason they have felt so bad on them is due to their dislike of their inability to help the mothers and babies. Midwives are probably some of the least selfish and most empathetic people at university. While they do answer the questions about themselves, they always express concern for those who are most vulnerable in the situation. Even as I talk to them about other things not related to these questions, it is clear that these are the kinds of people who will put you before themselves. A quality that we sometimes lack in society and a quality which we should recognise in these saintly students.

It is this kind of empathetic attitude that means they are also tasked with dealing with some of the most complex social issues. They come face to face with drug abusers, criminals, women who suffer from domestic abuse, or may even be hiding secrets from their husband such as HIV. They told me that “one of the things we do if there is a mother with previous problems is see whether or not she is bonding with the baby. If we conclude that she isn’t, then it could be taken away. It’s a lot of responsibility”.

Many of you will read this and think, why would they do this course? The reason is simple. Because they love it. One of them said to me that she had asked herself the question, “Am I going to love this enough to get up at 5am and go to placement? Yes!” They stress the fact that “we are already doing the job that we want to do. We have a guaranteed job at the end of it, and it is not your average 9 to 5 office work. It’s different every day”.

These students and many others like them up and down the country should be exalted. Their dedication, empathy, and caring nature is something that we don’t often see displayed in society today. One of the women who took part in this told me that she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her if they read this. I hope that is not your conclusion. I hope that you will come away from this with nothing but admiration for these super students. These heroines are some of the best and most caring people in society and I hope you, like myself, will have nothing but admiration for them.

University of Manchester to offer master’s bursaries

The University of Manchester will now be offering 100 bursaries each worth £3000 in funding for master’s students.

UK and EU students who qualify will be able to apply for this bursary if they are starting a taught or research master’s course in September 2017.

Naa Acquah, the current General Secretary, told The Mancunion: “The postgraduate bursaries are something that I am very proud of working on alongside a great team in the university. It is something that I have always been really passionate about and have now ensured that at least a portion of Postgraduate tuition fees will be used towards bursaries for at least the next year.

“I really hope these bursaries are able to support students who need a bit of extra cash to support them doing their degree as money gets tighter and tighter for students. I encourage anyone eligible to apply and make the most of this important scheme.”

These bursaries are to help students from underrepresented groups gain access to master’s courses by removing barriers to postgraduate education. A number of criteria will need to be met to be eligible for the award, but because of the limited number of bursaries that are available, meeting the criteria is not a guarantee of the award.

Eligible courses include LLM, MA, MEd, MBA, MEnt, MPhil, MRes, MSc, and MusM. The courses can be studied full-time or part-time for a maximum of two academic years. Students who already hold a master’s degree or a higher qualification, such as a doctoral degree (PhD), or postgraduate certificates/diplomas (PGCert, PGDip, PGCE) are not eligible.

Students who identify as BAME are encouraged to apply, although this is not part of the master’s bursary criteria.

Students who are eligible for a School or Faculty award or discount can apply too, but only be offered the higher value award. The only exception to this rule is if a student has been awarded a University loyalty bursary — in that case, they will receive both awards.

The deadline for applications will be Wednesday, May 31. Applications must be submitted online — the form can be found on the University of Manchester website, along with other criteria that apply. This bursary scheme is competitive, so applicants are requested to complete their form and give the essential evidence as soon as they can.

Review: Battle of the Gins

Last week the Pen and Pencil in the Northern Quarter of Manchester was filled with 65 Mancunians eager to take part in The ‘Gin-eral Election Night’ with three of Europe’s best gins competing to be crowned Manchester’s favourite.

As we entered a completely packed room full of gin enthusiasts all eagerly sat on benches staring at their menus which tonight consisted of cocktails alone, my eyes were instantly drawn to the rows of colourful cocktails lined up or mid-preparation at the bar.

Photo: Elise Gallagher

The three gins on the ballot paper were: the Belgian Copperhead Gin, Meditterranean Gin Mare and the local contender Manchester Gin.

With limited knowledge of the processes behind distilling gin and the botanicals needed to do so, I was apprehensive at first as to how this evening would go, or whether I was the best judge. However it soon became clear that the night was to be as welcoming to the gin nerds in the room as it would be for the gin novice.

Each of the three candidates for our vote took to the floor to explain the stories behind their gins and how they are made, before perhaps most importantly letting us try their respective gins in cocktails they had each designed.

The first pitch of the night was from Manchester Gin. Their story began, as they realised mid pitch, four years ago when they met on a night out at half one in the morning, and spoke for half an hour on gin alone.

The couple, Seb Heeley and Jen Wiggins, described how Manchester Gin grew out of their love story, adding that they ensured their Northern upbringing was included within the gin through the use of dandelion & burdock root.

Photo: Elise Gallagher

Once all this cuteness was over we were finally served the cocktail I had seen being prepared when we arrived, and it was well worth the wait. ‘Ginfatuation’ was a cross between a clover club and a cosmopolitan and it was definitely my favourite cocktail of the night as someone with a very sweet tooth.

After these cocktails were whisked away, Gin Mare took to the floor, opening by joking that “instead of me talking about my love life and you throwing up in your drinks, I’m going to talk about gin”, and they really did, with a PowerPoint and everything.

Gin Mare boasted that they the bottle their gin came in would make you feel like you were in the Mediterranean, handing it around the audience so that everyone could experience it, I personally still felt firmly in Manchester.

However as soon as the cocktail touched my lips, I couldn’t help but have recollections of hot summer holidays, the refreshing taste quickly making me forget the Manchester rain.

Photo: Elise Gallagher

Next up was Copperhead, the pitch for which “like all good stories had some drugs, booze and Nazis”. Founded by a pharmacist in Belgium and hidden at the bottom of a lake when the Nazis arrived, Copperhead certainly had the most extravagant and gripping pitches of the night.

Unfortunately the cocktail presented to the guests did not go down as well as the story of its creation, however I guess a gin should never be judged by its cocktail.

And they weren’t. In the end the pitches and the cocktails meant nothing, it was all down to the blind taste test of the gins alone.

They all tasted exceptional and deciding on which to select as my winner was very tough – I obviously had to try every last sip of each, just be sure.

In the end Manchester Gin came out clearly on top, soaring to victory with over half of the vote, but with the electorate a room full of Mancunians what did you expect?

Keep your eyes peeled for more battles of the [insert your favourite drink here] at the Pen and Pencil in the coming months.